Multi-mode cellular IC memory management

ABSTRACT

An RFIC includes first and second RF sections, first and second PHY processing modules, first and second upper layer processing modules, and memory. When the RFIC is in a first receive mode, the first RF section, the first PHY processing module, and the first upper layers processing module convert a first inbound RF signal into a first inbound audio signal in accordance with a first wireless communication protocol. When the RFIC is in a second receive mode, the second RF section, the second PHY processing module, and the second upper layers processing module convert a second inbound RF signal into a second inbound audio signal in accordance with a second wireless communication protocol. The memory stores the first and second inbound audio signals. The first PHY processing module retrieves, based on the receive mode, the first or second inbound audio signal from the memory and converts the first or second inbound audio signal into a first or second inbound analog audio signal.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present U.S. Utility patent application claims priority pursuant to35 U.S.C. §119(e) to the following U.S. Provisional Patent Applicationswhich are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety andmade part of the present U.S. Utility patent application for allpurposes:

1. U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/953,426 entitled “MULTI-MODECELLULAR IC MEMORY MANAGEMENT,” filed Aug. 1, 2007, pending.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to cellular wirelesscommunication systems, and more particularly to integrated circuits oftransceivers operating within such systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Communication systems are known to support wireless and wire linedcommunications between wireless and/or wire lined communication devices.Such communication systems range from national and/or internationalcellular telephone systems to the Internet to point-to-point in-homewireless networks. Each type of communication system is constructed, andhence operates, in accordance with one or more communication standards.For instance, wireless communication systems may operate in accordancewith one or more standards including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.11,Bluetooth, advanced mobile phone services (AMPS), digital AMPS, globalsystem for mobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access(CDMA), local multi-point distribution systems (LMDS),multi-channel-multi-point distribution systems (MMDS), radio frequencyidentification (RFID), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE),General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), and/or variations thereof.

Depending on the type of wireless communication system, a wirelesscommunication device, such as a cellular telephone, two-way radio,personal digital assistant (PDA), personal computer (PC), laptopcomputer, home entertainment equipment, RFID reader, RFID tag, et ceteracommunicates directly or indirectly with other wireless communicationdevices. For direct communications (also known as point-to-pointcommunications), the participating wireless communication devices tunetheir receivers and transmitters to the same channel or channels (e.g.,one of the plurality of radio frequency (RF) carriers of the wirelesscommunication system or a particular RF frequency for some systems) andcommunicate over that channel(s). For indirect wireless communications,each wireless communication device communicates directly with anassociated base station (e.g., for cellular services) and/or anassociated access point (e.g., for an in-home or in-building wirelessnetwork) via an assigned channel. To complete a communication connectionbetween the wireless communication devices, the associated base stationsand/or associated access points communicate with each other directly,via a system controller, via the public switch telephone network, viathe Internet, and/or via some other wide area network.

For each wireless communication device to participate in wirelesscommunications, it includes a built-in radio transceiver (i.e., receiverand transmitter) or is coupled to an associated radio transceiver (e.g.,a station for in-home and/or in-building wireless communicationnetworks, RF modem, etc.). As is known, the receiver is coupled to anantenna and includes a low noise amplifier, one or more intermediatefrequency stages, a filtering stage, and a data recovery stage. The lownoise amplifier receives inbound RF signals via the antenna andamplifies then. The one or more intermediate frequency stages mix theamplified RF signals with one or more local oscillations to convert theamplified RF signal into baseband signals or intermediate frequency (IF)signals. The filtering stage filters the baseband signals or the IFsignals to attenuate unwanted out of band signals to produce filteredsignals. The data recovery stage recovers raw data from the filteredsignals in accordance with the particular wireless communicationstandard.

As is also known, the transmitter includes a data modulation stage, oneor more intermediate frequency stages, and a power amplifier. The datamodulation stage converts raw data into baseband signals in accordancewith a particular wireless communication standard. The one or moreintermediate frequency stages mix the baseband signals with one or morelocal oscillations to produce RF signals. The power amplifier amplifiesthe RF signals prior to transmission via an antenna.

While transmitters generally include a data modulation stage, one ormore IF stages, and a power amplifier, the particular implementation ofthese elements is dependent upon the data modulation scheme of thestandard being supported by the transceiver. For example, if thebaseband modulation scheme is Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK), thedata modulation stage functions to convert digital words into quadraturemodulation symbols, which have constant amplitude and varying phases.The IF stage includes a phase locked loop (PLL) that generates anoscillation at a desired RF frequency, which is modulated based on thevarying phases produced by the data modulation stage. The phasemodulated RF signal is then amplified by the power amplifier inaccordance with a transmit power level setting to produce a phasemodulated RF signal.

As another example, if the data modulation scheme is 8-PSK (phase shiftkeying), the data modulation stage functions to convert digital wordsinto symbols having varying amplitudes and varying phases. The IF stageincludes a phase locked loop (PLL) that generates an oscillation at adesired RF frequency, which is modulated based on the varying phasesproduced by the data modulation stage. The phase modulated RF signal isthen amplified by the power amplifier in accordance with the varyingamplitudes to produce a phase and amplitude modulated RF signal.

As the desire for wireless communication devices to support multiplestandards continues, recent trends include the desire to integrate morefunctions on to a single chip. However, numerous functions increase theamount of power consumed by the IC. Thus, better methods of managingpower consumption and system resources within a multiple function IC aredesirable.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to apparatus and methods of operationthat are further described in the following Brief Description of theDrawings, the Detailed Description of the Invention, and the claims.Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description of the invention madewith reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communicationenvironment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of another wireless communicationenvironment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a communicationdevice in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of acommunication device in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of acommunication device in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a Voice Data RFIC in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of an RFIC inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of an RFIC inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of an RFIC inaccordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of an RFIC inaccordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communicationenvironment that includes a communication device 10 communicating withone or more of a wireline non-real-time device 12, a wireline real-timedevice 14, a wireline non-real-time and/or real-time device 16, a basestation 18, a wireless non-real-time device 20, a wireless real-timedevice 22, and a wireless non-real-time and/or real-time device 24. Thecommunication device 10, which may be a personal computer, laptopcomputer, personal entertainment device, cellular telephone, personaldigital assistant, a game console, a game controller, and/or any othertype of device that communicates real-time and/or non-real-time signals,may be coupled to one or more of the wireline non-real-time device 12,the wireline real-time device 14, and the wireline non-real-time and/orreal-time device 16 via a wireless connection 28. The wirelessconnection 28 may be an Ethernet connection, a universal serial bus(USB) connection, a parallel connection (e.g., RS232), a serialconnection, a fire-wire connection, a digital subscriber loop (DSL)connection, and/or any other type of connection for conveying data.

The communication device 10 communicates RF non-real-time data 25 and/orRF real-time data 26 with one or more of the base station 18, thewireless non-real-time device 20, the wireless real-time device 22, andthe wireless non-real-time and/or real-time device 24 via one or morechannels in a frequency band (fb_(A)) that is designated for wirelesscommunications. For example, the frequency band may be 900 MHz, 1800MHz, 1900 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, any ISM (industrial,scientific, and medical) frequency bands, and/or any other unlicensedfrequency band in the United States and/or other countries. As aparticular example, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA)utilizes an uplink frequency band of 1920-1980 MHz and a downlinkfrequency band of 2110-2170 MHz. As another particular example, EDGE,GSM and GPRS utilize an uplink transmission frequency band of 890-915MHz and a downlink transmission band of 935-960 MHz. As yet anotherparticular example, IEEE 802.11(g) utilizes a frequency band of 2.4 GHzfrequency band.

The wireless real-time device 22 and the wireline real-time device 14communicate real-time data that, if interrupted, would result in anoticeable adverse affect. For example, real-time data may include, butis not limited to, voice data, audio data, and/or streaming video data.Note that each of the real-time devices 14 and 22 may be a personalcomputer, laptop computer, personal digital assistant, a cellulartelephone, a cable set-top box, a satellite set-top box, a game console,a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver, a Bluetoothtransceiver, a frequency modulation (FM) tuner, a broadcast televisiontuner, a digital camcorder, and/or any other device that has a wirelineand/or wireless interface for conveying real-time data with anotherdevice.

The wireless non-real-time device 20 and the wireline non-real-timedevice 12 communicate non-real-time data that, if interrupted, would notgenerally result in a noticeable adverse affect. For example,non-real-time data may include, but is not limited to, text messages,still video images, graphics, control data, emails, and/or web browsing.Note that each of the non-real-time devices 14 and 22 may be a personalcomputer, laptop computer, personal digital assistant, a cellulartelephone, a cable set-top box, a satellite set-top box, a game console,a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver, a wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver, a frequencymodulation (FM) tuner, a broadcast television tuner, a digitalcamcorder, and/or any other device that has a wireline and/or wirelessinterface for conveying real-time data with another device.

Depending on the real-time and non-real-time devices coupled to thecommunication unit 10, the communication unit 10 may participate incellular voice communications, cellular data communications, videocapture, video playback, audio capture, audio playback, image capture,image playback, voice over internet protocol (i.e., voice over IP),sending and/or receiving emails, web browsing, playing video gameslocally, playing video games via the internet, word processinggeneration and/or editing, spreadsheet generation and/or editing,database generation and/or editing, one-to-many communications, viewingbroadcast television, receiving broadcast radio, cable broadcasts,and/or satellite broadcasts.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of another wireless communicationenvironment that includes a communication device 30 communicating withone or more of the wireline non-real-time device 12, the wirelinereal-time device 14, the wireline non-real-time and/or real-time device16, a wireless data device 32, a data base station 34, a voice basestation 36, and a wireless voice device 38. The communication device 30,which may be a personal computer, laptop computer, personalentertainment device, cellular telephone, personal digital assistant, agame console, a game controller, and/or any other type of device thatcommunicates data and/or voice signals, may be coupled to one or more ofthe wireline non-real-time device 12, the wireline real-time device 14,and the wireline non-real-time and/or real-time device 16 via thewireless connection 28. The communication device may include a multifunction RF IC 50 provided by embodiments of the present invention.Overall performance of the communication device may be enhanced byhaving improved battery life through improved power management providedby the bus architecture of embodiments of the present invention.Performance may also be improved by directly coupling resources duringcertain modes of operation as allowed by the bus architecture ofembodiments of the present invention.

The communication device 30 communicates RF data 40 with the data device32 and/or the data base station 34 via one or more channels in a firstfrequency band (fb₁) that is designated for wireless communications. Forexample, the first frequency band may be 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 1900 MHz,2100 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, any ISM (industrial, scientific, and medical)frequency bands, and/or any other unlicensed frequency band in theUnited States and/or other countries.

The communication device 30 communicates RF voice 42 with the voicedevice 38 and/or the voice base station 36 via one or more channels in asecond frequency band (fb₂) that is designated for wirelesscommunications. For example, the second frequency band may be 900 MHz,1800 MHz, 1900 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, any ISM (industrial,scientific, and medical) frequency bands, and/or any other unlicensedfrequency band in the United States and/or other countries. In aparticular example, the first frequency band may be 900 MHz for EDGEdata transmissions while the second frequency band may the 1900 MHz and2100 MHz for WCDMA voice transmissions.

The voice device 38 and the voice base station 36 communicate voicesignals that, if interrupted, would result in a noticeable adverseaffect (e.g., a disruption in a communication). For example, the voicesignals may include, but is not limited to, digitized voice signals,digitized audio data, and/or streaming video data. Note that the voicedevice 38 may be a personal computer, laptop computer, personal digitalassistant, a cellular telephone, a game console, a wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver, a frequencymodulation (FM) tuner, a broadcast television tuner, a digitalcamcorder, and/or any other device that has a wireless interface forconveying voice signals with another device.

The data device 32 and the data base station 34 communicate data that,if interrupted, would not generally result in a noticeable adverseaffect. For example, the data may include, but is not limited to, textmessages, still video images, graphics, control data, emails, and/or webbrowsing. Note that the data device 32 may be a personal computer,laptop computer, personal digital assistant, a cellular telephone, acable set-top box, a satellite set-top box, a game console, a globalpositioning satellite (GPS) receiver, a wireless local area network(WLAN) transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver, a frequency modulation (FM)tuner, a broadcast television tuner, a digital camcorder, and/or anyother device that has a wireless interface for conveying data withanother device.

Depending on the devices coupled to the communication unit 30, thecommunication unit 30 may participate in cellular voice communications,cellular data communications, video capture, video playback, audiocapture, audio playback, image capture, image playback, voice overinternet protocol (i.e., voice over IP), sending and/or receivingemails, web browsing, playing video games locally, playing video gamesvia the internet, word processing generation and/or editing, spreadsheetgeneration and/or editing, database generation and/or editing,one-to-many communications, viewing broadcast television, receivingbroadcast radio, cable broadcasts, and/or satellite broadcasts.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a communicationdevice 10 that includes a Voice Data RF (radio frequency) IC (integratedcircuit) 50, an antenna interface 52, memory 54, a display 56, a keypadand/or key board 58, at least one microphone 60, at least one speaker62, and a wireline port 64. The memory 54 may be NAND flash, NOR flash,SDRAM, and/or SRAM for storing data and/or instructions to facilitatecommunications of real-time and non-real-time data via the wireline port64 and/or via the antenna interface 52. In addition, or in thealternative, the memory 54 may store video files, audio files, and/orimage files for subsequent wireline or wireless transmission, forsubsequent display, for file transfer, and/or for subsequent editing.Accordingly, when the communication device supports storing, displaying,transferring, and/or editing of audio, video, and/or image files, thememory 54 would further store algorithms to support such storing,displaying, and/or editing. For example, the may include, but is notlimited to, file transfer algorithm, video compression algorithm, videodecompression algorithm, audio compression algorithm, audiodecompression algorithm, image compression algorithm, and/or imagedecompression algorithm, such as MPEG (motion picture expert group)encoding, MPEG decoding, JPEG point picture expert group) encoding, JPEGdecoding, MP3 encoding, and MP3 decoding.

For outgoing voice communications, the at least one microphone 60receives an audible voice signal, amplifies it, and provide theamplified voice signal to the Voice Data RF IC 50. The Voice Data RF IC50 processes the amplified voice signal into a digitized voice signalusing one or more audio processing schemes (e.g., pulse code modulation,audio compression, etc.). The Voice Data RF IC 50 may transmit thedigitized voice signal via the wireless port 64 to the wirelinereal-time device 14 and/or to the wireline non-real-time and/orreal-time device 16. In addition to, or in the alternative, the VoiceData RF IC 50 may transmit the digitized voice signal as RF real-timedata 26 to the wireless real-time device 22, and/or to the wirelessnon-real-time and/or real-time device 24 via the antenna interface 52.Voice Data RF IC 50 may be a multi function IC as provided byembodiments of the present invention. Overall performance of thecommunication device may be enhanced by having improved battery lifethrough improved power management provided by the bus architecture ofembodiments of the present invention. Performance may also be improvedby directly coupling resources during certain modes of operation asallowed by the bus architecture of embodiments of the present invention.

For outgoing real-time audio and/or video communications, the Voice DataRF IC 50 retrieves an audio and/or video file from the memory 54. TheVoice Data RF IC 50 may decompress the retrieved audio and/or video fileinto digitized streaming audio and/or video. The Voice Data RF IC 50 maytransmit the digitized streaming audio and/or video via the wirelessport 64 to the wireline real-time device 14 and/or to the wirelinenon-real-time and/or real-time device 16. In addition to, or in thealternative, the Voice Data RF IC 50 may transmit the digitizedstreaming audio and/or video as RF real-time data 26 to the wirelessreal-time device 22, and/or to the wireless non-real-time and/orreal-time device 24 via the antenna interface 52. Note that the VoiceData RF IC 50 may mix a digitized voice signal with a digitizedstreaming audio and/or video to produce a mixed digitized signal thatmay be transmitted via the wireline port 64 and/or via the antennainterface 52.

In a playback mode of the communication device 10, the Voice Data RF IC50 retrieves an audio and/or video file from the memory 54. The VoiceData RF IC 50 may decompress the retrieved audio and/or video file intodigitized streaming audio and/or video. The Voice Data RF IC 50 mayconvert an audio portion of the digitized streaming audio and/or videointo analog audio signals that are provided to the at least one speaker62. In addition, the Voice Data RF IC 50 may convert a video portion ofthe digitized streaming audio and/or video into analog or digital videosignals that are provided to the display 56, which may be a liquidcrystal (LCD) display, a plasma display, a digital light project (DLP)display, and/or any other type of portable video display.

For incoming RF voice communications, the antenna interface 52 receives,via an antenna, inbound RF real-time data 26 (e.g., inbound RF voicesignals) and provides them to the Voice Data RF IC 50. The Voice Data RFIC 50 processes the inbound RF voice signals into digitized voicesignals. The Voice Data RF IC 50 may transmit the digitized voicesignals via the wireless port 64 to the wireline real-time device 14and/or to the wireline non-real-time and/or real-time device 16. Inaddition to, or in the alternative, the Voice Data RF IC 50 may convertthe digitized voice signals into an analog voice signals and provide theanalog voice signals to the speaker 62.

The Voice Data RF IC 50 may receive digitized voice-audio-&/or-videosignals from the wireline connection 28 via the wireless port 64 or mayreceive RF signals via the antenna interface 52, where the Voice Data RFIC 50 recovers the digitized voice-audio-&/or-video signals from the RFsignals. The Voice Data RF IC 50 may then compress the receiveddigitized voice-audio-&/or-video signals to producevoice-audio-&/or-video files and store the files in memory 54. In thealternative, or in addition to, the Voice Data RF IC 50 may convert thedigitized voice-audio-&/or-video signals into analogvoice-audio-&/or-video signals and provide them to the speaker 62 and/ordisplay.

For outgoing non-real-time data communications, the keypad/keyboard 58(which may be a keypad, keyboard, touch screen, voice activated datainput, and/or any other mechanism for inputted data) provides inputteddata (e.g., emails, text messages, web browsing commands, etc.) to theVoice Data RF IC 50. The Voice Data RF IC 50 converts the inputted datainto a data symbol stream using one or more data modulation schemes(e.g., QPSK, 8-PSK, etc.). The Voice Data RF IC 50 converts the datasymbol stream into RF non-real-time data signals 24 that are provided tothe antenna interface 52 for subsequent transmission via the antenna. Inaddition to, or in the alternative, the Voice Data RF IC 50 may providethe inputted data to the display 56. As another alternative, the VoiceData RF IC 50 may provide the inputted data to the wireline port 64 fortransmission to the wireline non-real-time data device 12 and/or thenon-real-time and/or real-time device 16.

For incoming non-real-time communications (e.g., text messaging, imagetransfer, emails, web browsing), the antenna interface 52 receives, viaan antenna, inbound RF non-real-time data signals 24 (e.g., inbound RFdata signals) and provides them to the Voice Data RF IC 50. The VoiceData RF IC 50 processes the inbound RF data signals into data signals.The Voice Data RF IC 50 may transmit the data signals via the wirelessport 64 to the wireline non-real-time device 12 and/or to the wirelinenon-real-time and/or real-time device 16. In addition to, or in thealternative, the Voice Data RF IC 50 may convert the data signals intoanalog data signals and provide the analog data signals to an analoginput of the display 56 or the Voice Data RF IC 50 may provide the datasignals to a digital input of the display 56.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of acommunication device 10 that includes the Voice Data RF IC 50, theantenna interface 52, the memory 54, the keypad/keyboard 58, the atleast one speaker 62, the at least one microphone 60, and the display56. The Voice Data RF IC 50 includes a baseband processing module 80, aradio frequency (RF) section 82, an interface module 84, an audio codec86, a keypad interface 88, a memory interface 90, a display interface92, an advanced high-performance (AHB) bus matrix 94, and power islands97A-97F. The baseband processing module 80 may be a single processingdevice or a plurality of processing devices. Such a processing devicemay be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digital signal processor,microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array,programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuitry, analogcircuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals(analog and/or digital) based on hard coding of the circuitry and/oroperational instructions. The processing module 80 may have anassociated memory and/or memory element, which may be a single memorydevice, a plurality of memory devices, and/or embedded circuitry of theprocessing module 80. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory,random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, staticmemory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any devicethat stores digital information. Note that when the processing module 80implements one or more of its functions via a state machine, analogcircuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory and/ormemory element storing the corresponding operational instructions may beembedded within, or external to, the circuitry comprising the statemachine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry.Further note that, the memory element stores, and the processing module80 executes, hard coded and/or operational instructions corresponding toat least some of the steps and/or functions illustrated in the FIGs.

The baseband processing module 80 converts an outbound voice signal 96into an outbound voice symbol stream 98 in accordance with one or moreexisting wireless communication standards, new wireless communicationstandards, modifications thereof, and/or extensions thereof (e.g., GSM,AMPS, digital AMPS, CDMA, etc.). The baseband processing module 80 mayperform one or more of scrambling, encoding, constellation mapping,modulation, frequency spreading, frequency hopping, beam forming,space-time-block encoding, space-frequency-block encoding, and/ordigital baseband to IF conversion to convert the outbound voice signal96 into the outbound voice symbol stream 98. Depending on the desiredformatting of the outbound voice symbol stream 98, the basebandprocessing module 80 may generate the outbound voice symbol stream 98 asCartesian coordinates (e.g., having an in-phase signal component and aquadrature signal component to represent a symbol), as Polar coordinates(e.g., having a phase component and an amplitude component to representa symbol), or as hybrid coordinates as disclosed in co-pending patentapplication entitled HYBRID RADIO FREQUENCY TRANSMITTER, having a filingdate of Mar. 24, 2006, and an application number of Ser. No. 11/388,822,and co-pending patent application entitled PROGRAMMABLE HYBRIDTRANSMITTER, having a filing date of Jul. 26, 2006, and an applicationnumber of Ser. No. 11/494,682.

The interface module 84 conveys the outbound voice symbol stream 98 tothe RF section 82 when the Voice Data RF IC 50 is in a voice mode. Thevoice mode may be activated by the user of the communication device 10by initiating a cellular telephone call, by receiving a cellulartelephone call, by initiating a walkie-talkie type call, by receiving awalkie-talkie type call, by initiating a voice record function, and/orby another voice activation selection mechanism.

The RF section 82 converts the outbound voice symbol stream 98 into anoutbound RF voice signal 114 in accordance with the one or more existingwireless communication standards, new wireless communication standards,modifications thereof, and/or extensions thereof (e.g., GSM, AMPS,digital AMPS, CDMA, etc.). In one embodiment, the RF section 82 receivesthe outbound voice symbol stream 98 as Cartesian coordinates. In thisembodiment, the RF section 82 mixes the in-phase components of theoutbound voice symbol stream 98 with an in-phase local oscillation toproduce a first mixed signal and mixes the quadrature components of theoutbound voice symbol stream 98 to produce a second mixed signal. The RFsection 82 combines the first and second mixed signals to produce anup-converted voice signal. The RF section 82 then amplifies theup-converted voice signal to produce the outbound RF voice signal 114,which it provides to the antenna interface 52. Note that further poweramplification may occur between the output of the RF section 82 and theinput of the antenna interface 52.

For incoming voice signals, the RF section 82 receives an inbound RFvoice signal 112 via the antenna interface 52. The RF section 82converts the inbound RF voice signal 112 into an inbound voice symbolstream 100. In one embodiment, the RF section 82 extracts Cartesiancoordinates from the inbound RF voice signal 112 to produce the inboundvoice symbol stream 100. In another embodiment, the RF section 82extracts Polar coordinates from the inbound RF voice signal 112 toproduce the inbound voice symbol stream 100. In yet another embodiment,the RF section 82 extracts hybrid coordinates from the inbound RF voicesignal 112 to produce the inbound voice symbol stream 100. The interfacemodule 84 provides the inbound voice symbol stream 100 to the basebandprocessing module 80 when the Voice Data RF IC 50 is in the voice mode.

The baseband processing module 80 converts the inbound voice symbolstream 100 into an inbound voice signal 102. The baseband processingmodule 80 may perform one or more of descrambling, decoding,constellation demapping, modulation, frequency spreading decoding,frequency hopping decoding, beam forming decoding, space-time-blockdecoding, space-frequency-block decoding, and/or IF to digital basebandconversion to convert the inbound voice symbol stream 100 into theinbound voice signal 102, which is placed on the AHB bus matrix 94.

In one embodiment, the outbound voice signal 96 is received from theaudio codec section 86 via the AHB bus 94. The audio codec section 86 iscoupled to the at least one microphone 60 to receive an analog voiceinput signal there from. The audio codec section 86 converts the analogvoice input signal into a digitized voice signal that is provided to thebaseband processing module 80 as the outbound voice signal 96. The audiocodec section 86 may perform an analog to digital conversion to producethe digitized voice signal from the analog voice input signal, mayperform pulse code modulation (PCM) to produce the digitized voicesignal, and/or may compress a digital representation of the analog voiceinput signal to produce the digitized voice signal.

The audio codec section 86 is also coupled to the at least one speaker62. In one embodiment the audio codec section 86 processes the inboundvoice signal 102 to produce an analog inbound voice signal that issubsequently provided to the at least one speaker 62. The audio codecsection 86 may process the inbound voice signal 102 by performing adigital to analog conversion, by PCM decoding, and/or by decompressingthe inbound voice signal 102.

For an outgoing data communication (e.g., email, text message, webbrowsing, and/or non-real-time data), the baseband processing module 80receives outbound data 108 from the keypad interface 88 and/or thememory interface 90. The baseband processing module 80 converts outbounddata 108 into an outbound data symbol stream 110 in accordance with oneor more existing wireless communication standards, new wirelesscommunication standards, modifications thereof, and/or extensionsthereof (e.g., EDGE, GPRS, etc.). The baseband processing module 80 mayperform one or more of scrambling, encoding, constellation mapping,modulation, frequency spreading, frequency hopping, beam forming,space-time-block encoding, space-frequency-block encoding, and/ordigital baseband to IF conversion to convert the outbound data 108 intothe outbound data symbol stream 110. Depending on the desired formattingof the outbound data symbol stream 110, the baseband processing module80 may generate the outbound data symbol stream 110 as Cartesiancoordinates (e.g., having an in-phase signal component and a quadraturesignal component to represent a symbol), as Polar coordinates (e.g.,having a phase component and an amplitude component to represent asymbol), or as hybrid coordinates as disclosed in co-pending patentapplication entitled HYBRID RADIO FREQUENCY TRANSMITTER, having a filingdate of Mar. 24, 2006, and an application number of Ser. No. 11/388,822,and co-pending patent application entitled PROGRAMMABLE HYBRIDTRANSMITTER, having a filing date of Jul. 26, 2006, and an applicationnumber of Ser. No. 11/494,682. In addition to, or in the alternative of,the outbound data 108 may be provided to the display interface 92 suchthat the outbound data 108, or a representation thereof, may bedisplayed on the display 56.

The interface module 84 conveys the outbound data symbol stream 110 tothe RF section 82 when the Voice Data RF IC 50 is in a data mode. Thedata mode may be activated by the user of the communication device 10 byinitiating a text message, by receiving a text message, by initiating aweb browser function, by receiving a web browser response, by initiatinga data file transfer, and/or by another data activation selectionmechanism.

The RF section 82 converts the outbound data symbol stream 110 into anoutbound RF data signal 118 in accordance with the one or more existingwireless communication standards, new wireless communication standards,modifications thereof, and/or extensions thereof (e.g., EDGE, GPRS,etc.). The RF section 82 combines the first and second mixed signals toproduce an up-converted data signal. The RF section 82 then amplifiesthe up-converted data signal to produce the outbound RF data signal 118,which it provides to the antenna interface 52. Note that further poweramplification may occur between the output of the RF section 82 and theinput of the antenna interface 52.

For incoming data communications, the RF section 82 receives an inboundRF data signal 116 via the antenna interface 52. The RF section 82converts the inbound RF data signal 116 into an inbound data symbolstream 104.

The baseband processing module 80 converts the inbound data symbolstream 104 into inbound data 106. The baseband processing module 80 mayperform one or more of descrambling, decoding, constellation demapping,modulation, frequency spreading decoding, frequency hopping decoding,beam forming decoding, space-time-block decoding, space-frequency-blockdecoding, and/or IF to digital baseband conversion to convert theinbound data symbol stream 104 into the inbound data 106, which isplaced on the AHB bus matrix 94.

In one embodiment, the display interface 92 retrieves the inbound data106 from the AHB bus matrix 94 and provides it, or a representationthereof, to the display 56. In another embodiment, the memory interface90 retrieves the inbound data 106 from the AHG bus matrix 94 andprovides it to the memory 54 for storage therein.

Power islands 97A-97F may be associated with a particular function ofthe IC. For example, the display interface may be on a separate powerisland 97A such that when the video or graphics processing is notrequired, the display interface 92 does not receive power. Similarly,audio codec section 86 may be on a separate power island 97B such thatwhen the audio processing is not required, the audio codec section 86does not receive power. The power islands 97A-97F may be turned off byremoving Vdd and/or by disabling a clock for the particular function.Power islands may not be required to be fully disabled, but placed intoa sleep mode, where Vdd is lowered and/or the clock rate is lowered. Forexample, in a GSM sleep mode, a low frequency crystal oscillator (e.g.,36 KHz) may be used to generate the clocking for the GSM transceiver. Inthis mode, a high frequency oscillator (e.g., 24 MHz) is occasionallyenabled to calibrate the lower frequency oscillator. Lower frequencyoscillator consumes less power but is less accurate than the higherfrequency clock. Note that when the high frequency oscillator is enabledfor operations other than calibrating the low frequency oscillator, thelower frequency oscillator may be disabled.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of acommunication device 10 that includes the Voice Data RF IC 50, theantenna interface 52, the memory 54, the keypad/keyboard 58, the atleast one speaker 62, the at least one microphone 60, the display 56,and at least one of: a SIM (Security Identification Module) card 122, apower management (PM) IC 126, a second display 130, a SD (SecureDigital) card or MMC (Multi Media Card) 134, a coprocessor IC 138, aWLAN transceiver 142, a Bluetooth (BT) transceiver 144, an FM tuner 148,a GPS receiver 154, an image sensor 158 (e.g., a digital camera), avideo sensor 162 (e.g., a camcorder), and a TV tuner 166. The Voice DataRF IC 50 includes the baseband processing module 80, the RF section 82,the interface module 84, the audio codec 86, the keypad interface 88,the memory interface 90, the display interface 92, the advancedhigh-performance (AHB) bus matrix 94, a processing module 125, and oneor more of: a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) interface 120,power management (PM) interface 124, a second display interface 128, asecure digital input/output (SDIO) interface 132, a coprocessorinterface 136, a WLAN interface 140, a Bluetooth interface 146, an FMinterface 150, a GPS interface 152, a camera interface 156, a camcorderinterface 160, a TV interface 164, and a Universal Serial Bus (USB)interface 165. While not shown, the Voice Data RF IC 50 may furtherincluded one or more of a Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter(UART) interface coupled to the AHB bus matrix 94, a Serial PeripheralInterface (SPI) interface coupled to the AHB bus matrix 94, an I2Sinterface coupled to the AHB bus matrix 94, and a pulse code modulation(PCM) interface coupled to the AHB bus matrix 94.

The processing module 125 may be a single processing device or aplurality of processing devices. Such a processing device may be amicroprocessor, micro-controller, digital signal processor,microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array,programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuitry, analogcircuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals(analog and/or digital) based on hard coding of the circuitry and/oroperational instructions. The processing module 125 may have anassociated memory and/or memory element, which may be a single memorydevice, a plurality of memory devices, and/or embedded circuitry of theprocessing module 125. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory,random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, staticmemory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any devicethat stores digital information. Note that when the processing module125 implements one or more of its functions via a state machine, analogcircuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory and/ormemory element storing the corresponding operational instructions may beembedded within, or external to, the circuitry comprising the statemachine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry.Further note that, the memory element stores, and the processing module125 executes, hard coded and/or operational instructions correspondingto at least some of the steps and/or functions illustrated in the FIGs.

In this embodiment, the Voice Data RF IC 50 includes one or more of aplurality of interfaces that enable the communication device 10 toinclude one or more of a plurality of additional circuits. For example,the communication device 10 may be a cellular telephone that providesvoice, data, and at least one other service via the Voice Data RF IC 50,which, in this instance, is a cellular telephone IC. An example ofanother service includes WLAN access via a WLAN transceiver to supportvoice over IP communications, internet access, etc. Another serviceexample includes Bluetooth access via a Bluetooth transceiver to supporta Bluetooth wireless headset, file transfers, and other piconetservices.

These additional circuits may not require power at all times. To reducepower consumption and extend battery life, power islands may be used tosupply power to these additional circuits only when needed. The powermanagement interface 124 may be used to direct power to these additionalcircuits as required through the bus matrix. The power islandsassociated with the additional circuits may be turned off by removingVdd and/or by disabling a clock for the particular function. Powerislands may not be required to be fully disabled, but placed into asleep mode, where Vdd is lowered and/or the clock rate is lowered. Forexample, in a GSM sleep mode, a low frequency crystal oscillator (e.g.,36 KHz) may be used to generate the clocking for the GSM transceiver. Inthis mode, a high frequency oscillator (e.g., 24 MHz) is occasionallyenabled to calibrate the lower frequency oscillator. Lower frequencyoscillator consumes less power but is less accurate than the higherfrequency clock. Note that when the high frequency oscillator is enabledfor operations other than calibrating the low frequency oscillator, thelower frequency oscillator may be disabled.

For wireline connectivity to another device, the Voice Data RF IC 50 mayinclude a USB interface 165, an SPI interface, and I2S interface, and/oranother other type of wired interface. In this instance, file transfersare easily supported by the wireline connectivity and can be managed bythe processing module 125. Further, video games may be downloaded to thecommunication device 10 via the wireline connectivity and subsequentlyplayed as administered by the processing module 125. Alternatively, thewireline connectivity provides coupling to a game console such that thecommunication device 10 acts as the display and/or controller of thevideo game.

With the various interface options of the Voice Data RF IC 50, thecommunication device 10 may function as a personal entertainment deviceto playback audio files, video files, image files, to record images, torecord video, to record audio, to watch television, to track location,to listen to broadcast FM radio, etc. Such personal entertainmentfunctions would be administered primarily by the processing module 125.

With the inclusion of one or more display interfaces 92 and 128, thecommunication device may include multiple displays 56 and 130. Thedisplays 56 and 130 may be a liquid crystal (LCD) display, a plasmadisplay, a digital light project (DLP) display, and/or any other type ofportable video display. Note that the display interfaces 92 and 128 maybe an LCD interface, a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI),and/or other type of interface for supporting the particular display 56or 130.

The Voice Data RF IC 50 includes security interface options to protectthe data stored in the communication device and/or to insure use of thecommunication device is by an authorized user. For example, the VoiceData RF IC 50 may include the USIM interface 120 and/or the SDIOinterface 132 for interfacing with a SIM card, a Secure Data card and/ora multi media card.

Of the various interfaces that may be included on the Voice Data RF IC50, I2S is an industry standard 3-wire interface for streaming stereoaudio between devices and the PCM interface is a serial interface usedto transfer speech data. Of the external components of the communicationdevice 10 with respect to the IC 50, a Secure Digital (SD) is a flashmemory (non-volatile) memory card format used in portable devices,including digital cameras and handheld computers. SD cards are based onthe older Multi-Media-Card (MMC) format, but most are physicallyslightly thicker than MMC cards. A (SIM) card that stores usersubscriber information, authentication information and provides storagespace for text messages and USIM stores a long-term preshared secret keyK, which is shared with the Authentication Center (AuC) in the network.The USIM also verifies a sequence number that must be within a rangeusing a window mechanism to avoid replay attacks, and is in charge ofgenerating the session keys CK and IK to be used in the confidentialityand integrity algorithms of the KASUMI block cipher in UMTS.

Voice data RF IC 50 as shown in FIG. 6 includes power island circuitry127 which may take the form of a power bus matrix that provides power tospecific functions such as various interfaces, UART198, MIPI192, USB194,SDIO132, I2S196, SPI200, USIM120, PM124, camera interface 156, PCM202video Kodak 204, as well as data base band processing module 172, voicebase band processing module 170, microprocessor core 190, memoryinterface 90, RF Section 82 and interface module 84. There may bespecific times when any or all of these functions may not be requiredand embodiments of the present invention are a power island circuitry127 in the form of a power bus to individually remove power from thosemodules or functions not requiring power in order to extend the batterylife associated with a communication device 10 having voice data RF IC50 and thus, enhance the overall performance of the communicationdevice.

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of the RFIC 50that includes the RF section 82, the interface module 84, the AHB busmatrix 94, the power island circuitry 127, a data baseband processingmodule 172, a voice baseband processing module 170, a processor core190, memory interface 90, and a plurality of interface modules 120, 124,132, 156, and 192-204. The interface modules may include one or more ofa UART, MIPI, USB, SDIO, I2S, SPI, USIM, PM, camera, PCM, and videocodec interface.

In this embodiment, the power island circuitry 127 includes a pluralityof controllable, or gateable, power lines and/or clock lines to each ofthe various modules of RFIC 50. In this instance, each of the modulesmay be individually controlled with respect to power to reduce theoverall power consumption of the RFIC 50. For example, the power islandcircuitry 127 may include one or more power supplies (e.g., DC to DCconverters, linear regulators, etc.) to generate one or more powersupply voltages. In addition, the power island circuitry 127 may includeone or more clock circuits (e.g., crystal oscillator, phase locked loop,counter, frequency divider, frequency multiplier, etc.) to generate oneor more clock signals. In this example, for a given module 82, 84, 90,107, 172, 190, 120, 124, 132, 156, and 192-204, the power islandcircuitry 127 may disable a power line coupled to the module (e.g., opena transistor to remove power from the module); may lower the powersupply voltage; may disable a clock signal; and/or may lower the rate ofa clock signal.

The decision of how and when to adjust power and/or a clock signal to amodule may be done a priori based on known operating states of thedevice. For example, in a first mode, the data baseband processingmodule 172 may not be used this is disabled; in a second mode, the databaseband processing module 172 is not be used, but is put into a sleepmode; etc. This information may be stored in look up table and accessedwhen the device changes modes of operation. Alternatively, the decisionof how and when to adjust the power and/or a clock signal may beautomatically by determining at a given time, the status of use of thevarious modules. Based on the status of use, the power and/or clocksignals are adjusted and/or disabled for a given module.

FIG. 7 provides a schematic block diagram of voice data RF IC 700 thatincludes Master Components 702 and Slave Components 704 where all thecomponents may be coupled to an AHB Bus 706. Master Components 702include various ARMs, 708 through 710 as well a multiple DSPs shown asDSP 712 and DSP 714. Other components may include Modem 716, VideoProcessing Module 718, LCD Module 720 operably coupled to Display 724and RF Processing Module 722. Slave Components 704 may includeinterfaces to resources such as Memory Interface 726 to Memory 732 orpower interface/power island circuitry 734 to provide power islands thatroute power to specific components such as various Master Components 702or Slave Components 704. Power island circuitry 734 and power interface734 may direct power to only those components that are required in orderto improve overall performance and power management of the IC.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of an RF IC 800that includes RF processing module 802, DSP module 804, ARM 806, ARM808, and ROM 810. In this example ROM 810 is not always required by DSP804. Therefore power islands may be utilized to withdraw power to ROM810 to conserve internal resources. This may be done by adjusting thevoltage VDD or using a switch (i.e. transistor 812) to remove power fromROM 810 when not required. Power provided by the power islands may beturned off by removing Vdd and/or by disabling a clock for theparticular function. Power islands may not be required to be fullydisabled, but placed into a sleep mode, where Vdd is lowered and/or theclock rate is lowered.

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of an RFIC that includes a firstoperating mode section 901 and a second operating mode section 903.First operating mode section 901 may include a first operating mode RFprocessing module 902, a first operating mode DSP 906, and a firstoperating mode ARM 910. Second operating mode section 903 may include asecond operating mode RF processing module 904, a second operating modeDSP 908, and a second operating mode 912. Additionally, multi-modecellular IC 900 may include a bus 920, a speaker 916, microphone 918 andmemory module 914. Memory 914 may include a memory manager that providespointers to indicate where in memory data resides and when data isavailable for the DSP and ARM.

In an embodiment, when the RFIC is in a first receive mode, the first RFsection 902 converts a first inbound RF signal into a first inboundsymbol stream in accordance with the first wireless communicationprotocol (e.g., GSM, EDGE, WCDMA, GPRS, etc.). In this mode, the firstPHY processing module (e.g., DSP 906) converts the first inbound symbolstream into first inbound data in accordance with the first wirelesscommunication protocol. Such a conversion from RF to baseband waspreviously discussed with reference to one or more of FIGS. 1-6.

The memory 914 stores the first inbound data, which may be inbounddigital voice data, inbound digital audio data, inbound digital videodata, inbound text message data, inbound graphics data, and/or inboundimage data. The memory manager utilizes pointers to indicate where inthe memory the first inbound data is stored and further provides anindication as to when the first inbound data may be retrieved from thememory for subsequent processing.

When the first inbound data is available for subsequent processing, thefirst upper layers processing module (e.g, ARM 910) retrieves the firstinbound data from the memory 914 and converts the first inbound datainto a first inbound signal. In an embodiment, the upper layersprocessing module performs the medium access control (MAC) layer,network layer, transport layer, session layer, presentation layer, andapplication layer functions. The memory 914 stores the first inboundsignal, which may be an inbound digital voice signal, an inbound digitalaudio signal, an inbound digital video signal, an inbound text messagesignal, an inbound graphics signal, and/or an inbound image signal.

When the first inbound signal is available for retrieval, the first PHYprocessing module (e.g., DSP 906) retrieves it from the memory 914 andconverts it into a first inbound analog signal. For example, if thefirst inbound analog signal is a voice or audio signal, the PHYprocessing module provides the analog voice or audio signal to thespeaker, which renders the signal audible. In this example the first PHYprocessing module includes an audio codec to facilitate the digital toanalog conversion of the first inbound signal. As another example, whenthe first inbound analog signal is a text or video signal, the PHYprocessing module provides the analog text or video signal to thedisplay interface for subsequent display.

When the RFIC is in a second receive mode, the second RF section 904converts a second inbound RF signal into a second inbound symbol streamin accordance with a second wireless communication protocol (e.g., GSM,EDGE, WCDMA, GPRS, etc.). Then, the second PHY processing module (e.g.,DSP 908) converts the second inbound symbol stream into second inbounddata in accordance with the second wireless communication protocol.

The memory 914 stores the second inbound data, which may be inbounddigital voice data, inbound digital audio data, inbound digital videodata, inbound text message data, inbound graphics data, and/or inboundimage data. The memory manager utilizes pointers to indicate where inthe memory the second inbound data is stored and further provides anindication as to when the second inbound data may be retrieved from thememory for subsequent processing.

When the second inbound data is available for subsequent processing, thesecond upper layers processing module (e.g., ARM 912) retrieves thesecond inbound data from the memory 914 and converts it into a secondinbound signal. In an embodiment, the upper layers processing moduleperforms the medium access control (MAC) layer, network layer, transportlayer, session layer, presentation layer, and application layerfunctions. The memory 914 stores the second inbound signal, which may bean inbound digital voice signal, an inbound digital audio signal, aninbound digital video signal, an inbound text message signal, an inboundgraphics signal, and/or an inbound image signal.

When the second inbound signal is available for retrieval, the first PHYprocessing module (e.g., DSP 906) retrieves it from the memory 914 andconverts it into a second inbound analog signal. For example, if thesecond inbound analog signal is a voice or audio signal, the PHYprocessing module provides the analog voice or audio signal to thespeaker, which renders the signal audible. In this example the first PHYprocessing module includes an audio codec to facilitate the digital toanalog conversion of the first inbound signal. As another example, whenthe second inbound analog signal is a text or video signal, the PHYprocessing module provides the analog text or video signal to thedisplay interface for subsequent display.

In another embodiment, the first PHY processing module may include anaudio processing module and an audio codec. The audio processing moduleis coupled to decompress the first or second inbound signal to produce adecompressed audio signal. For example, the audio processing module mayuse an MP3, or other digital audio, algorithm to decompress the inboundsignal. The audio codec is coupled to convert the decompressed audiosignal into the first or second inbound analog signal.

In another embodiment, the memory 914 may store a multimedia file (e.g.,a digital audio file, a digital video file, a digital image file, a textmessage, a graphics file, etc.) The first upper layers processing module(e.g., ARM 9100 retrieves the multimedia file from memory and convertsthe multimedia file into the first inbound signal. The first PHYprocessing module (e.g., DSP 908) converts the first inbound signal intothe first inbound analog signal (e.g., an analog voice signal, an analogaudio signal, an analog video signal, an analog text signal, an analoggraphics signal, etc.)

In another embodiment, when the RFIC is in a first transmit mode, thefirst PHY processing module converts a first outbound analog signal intoa first outbound signal. The first outbound analog signal may be a firstoutbound analog audio signal, a first outbound analog video signal,and/or a first outbound analog text/graphics signal and the firstoutbound signal may be a first outbound digital audio signal, a firstoutbound digital video signal, and/or a first outbound digitaltext/graphics signal.

The memory 914 stores the first outbound signal. The memory managerutilizes pointers to indicate where in the memory the first outbounddata is stored and further provides an indication as to when the firstoutbound data may be retrieved from the memory for subsequentprocessing.

The first upper layers processing module converts the first outboundsignal into first outbound data, which is stored in memory 914. Thefirst PHY processing module retrieves the first outbound data from thememory and converts it into a first outbound symbol stream in accordancewith the first wireless communication protocol. The first RF sectionconverts the first outbound symbol stream into a first outbound RFsignal in accordance with the first wireless communication protocol.

When the RFIC is in a second transmit mode, the first PHY processingmodule converts a second outbound analog signal into a second outboundsignal. In an embodiment, the second outbound signal includes a secondoutbound digital audio signal, a second outbound digital video signal,and/or a second outbound digital text/graphics signal and the secondoutbound analog signal includes a second outbound analog audio signal, asecond outbound analog video signal, and/or a second outbound analogtext/graphics signal. The memory stores the second outbound signal.

The second upper layers processing module converts the second outboundsignal into second outbound data, which is stored in memory 914. Thesecond PHY processing module retrieves the second outbound data from thememory and converts it into a second outbound symbol stream inaccordance with the second wireless communication protocol. The secondRF section converts the second outbound symbol stream into a secondoutbound RF signal in accordance with the second wireless communicationprotocol.

In an embodiment, the first PHY processing module includes an audiocodec that converts a first outbound analog audio signal into the firstoutbound signal and to convert a second outbound analog audio signalinto the second outbound signal. In another embodiment, the first PHYprocessing module includes an audio codec and an audio processingmodule. The audio codec converts first or second outbound analog audiosignals into an outbound digital audio signal and the audio processingmodule compresses the outbound digital audio signal to produce the firstor second outbound signal.

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a multimode cellular-wirelessarea network and/or voice/data/RF IC similar to FIG. 9, but specific toGSM and WCDMA in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.Multi-mode cellular-wireless RF IC 1000 includes a GSM section 1001 anda WCDMA section 1003. GSM section 1001 may include a GSM RF processingmodule 1002, a GSM DSP 1006, and a GSM ARM 1010. WCDMA section 1003 mayinclude a WCDMA RF processing module 1004, a WCDMA DSP 1008, and a WCDMA1012. Additionally, multi-mode cellular IC 1000 may include a bus 1020,a speaker 1016, microphone 1018 and memory module 1014. Memory 1014 maybe used to provide pointers to indicate where in memory data resides andwhen data is available for the DSP and ARM. For example, in GSM mode,data between DSP 1006 and ARM 1010 may be conveyed via memory 1014 wherepointers are used to indicate where in memory 1014 data resides and whenthe data is available. In WCDMA mode, the GSM DSP 1006 may be used toperform voice coding and de-coding and thus is coupled to speaker 1016and microphone 1018. In this mode, the GSM DSP 1006, the WCDMA DSP 1008,and WCDMA ARM 1012 again may use pointers to indicate where in memory1014 data resides and when the data is available.

As may be used herein, the terms “substantially” and “approximately”provides an industry-accepted tolerance for its corresponding termand/or relativity between items. Such an industry-accepted toleranceranges from less than one percent to fifty percent and corresponds to,but is not limited to, component values, integrated circuit processvariations, temperature variations, rise and fall times, and/or thermalnoise. Such relativity between items ranges from a difference of a fewpercent to magnitude differences. As may also be used herein, theterm(s) “coupled to” and/or “coupling” and/or includes direct couplingbetween items and/or indirect coupling between items via an interveningitem (e.g., an item includes, but is not limited to, a component, anelement, a circuit, and/or a module) where, for indirect coupling, theintervening item does not modify the information of a signal but mayadjust its current level, voltage level, and/or power level. As mayfurther be used herein, inferred coupling (i.e., where one element iscoupled to another element by inference) includes direct and indirectcoupling between two items in the same manner as “coupled to”. As mayeven further be used herein, the term “operable to” indicates that anitem includes one or more of power connections, input(s), output(s),etc., to perform one or more its corresponding functions and may furtherinclude inferred coupling to one or more other items. As may stillfurther be used herein, the term “associated with”, includes directand/or indirect coupling of separate items and/or one item beingembedded within another item. As may be used herein, the term “comparesfavorably”, indicates that a comparison between two or more items,signals, etc., provides a desired relationship. For example, when thedesired relationship is that signal 1 has a greater magnitude thansignal 2, a favorable comparison may be achieved when the magnitude ofsignal 1 is greater than that of signal 2 or when the magnitude ofsignal 2 is less than that of signal 1.

The present invention has also been described above with the aid ofmethod steps illustrating the performance of specified functions andrelationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of these functionalbuilding blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined hereinfor convenience of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences canbe defined so long as the specified functions and relationships areappropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences arethus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention.

The present invention has been described above with the aid offunctional building blocks illustrating the performance of certainsignificant functions. The boundaries of these functional buildingblocks have been arbitrarily defined for convenience of description.Alternate boundaries could be defined as long as the certain significantfunctions are appropriately performed. Similarly, flow diagram blocksmay also have been arbitrarily defined herein to illustrate certainsignificant functionality. To the extent used, the flow diagram blockboundaries and sequence could have been defined otherwise and stillperform the certain significant functionality. Such alternatedefinitions of both functional building blocks and flow diagram blocksand sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimedinvention. One of average skill in the art will also recognize that thefunctional building blocks, and other illustrative blocks, modules andcomponents herein, can be implemented as illustrated or by discretecomponents, application specific integrated circuits, processorsexecuting appropriate software and the like or any combination thereof.

1. A radio frequency (RF) integrated circuit (IC) comprises: a firstradio frequency (RF) section; a second RF section; a first physicallayer (PHY) processing module; a second PHY processing module; a firstupper layers processing module; a second upper layers processing module;a memory interface for coupling to memory; and a bus structure coupledto the memory, the first and second PHY processing modules, and to thefirst and second upper layers processing modules, wherein, when the RFICis in a first receive mode: the first RF section converts a firstinbound RF signal into a first inbound symbol stream in accordance withthe first wireless communication protocol; the first PHY processingmodule converts the first inbound symbol stream into first inbound datain accordance with the first wireless communication protocol; the memorystores the first inbound data; the first upper layers processing moduleretrieves the first inbound data from memory and converts the firstinbound data into a first inbound signal; the memory stores the firstinbound signal; and the first PHY processing module retrieves the firstinbound signal from the memory and converts the first inbound signalinto a first inbound analog signal; and when the RFIC is in a secondreceive mode: the second RF section converts a second inbound RF signalinto a second inbound symbol stream in accordance with a second wirelesscommunication protocol; the second PHY processing module converts thesecond inbound symbol stream into second inbound data in accordance withthe second wireless communication protocol; the memory stores the secondinbound data; the second upper layers processing module retrieves thesecond inbound data from memory and converts the second inbound datainto a second inbound signal; the memory stores the second inboundsignal; and the first PHY processing module retrieves the second inboundsignal from the memory and converts the second inbound signal into asecond inbound analog signal.
 2. The RFIC of claim 1 further comprises,when the RFIC is in a first transmit mode: the first PHY processingmodule coupled to convert a first outbound analog audio signal into afirst outbound audio signal; the memory stores the first outbound audiosignal; the first upper layers processing module converts the firstoutbound audio signal into first outbound data; the memory stores thefirst outbound data; the first PHY processing module retrieves the firstoutbound data from the memory and converts the first outbound data intoa first outbound symbol stream in accordance with the first wirelesscommunication protocol; and the first RF section converts the firstoutbound symbol stream into a first outbound RF signal in accordancewith the first wireless communication protocol.
 3. The RFIC of claim 1further comprises, when the RFIC is in a second transmit mode: the firstPHY processing module coupled to convert a second outbound analog audiosignal into a second outbound audio signal; the memory stores the secondoutbound audio signal; the second upper layers processing moduleconverts the second outbound audio signal into second outbound data; thememory stores the second outbound data; the second PHY processing moduleretrieves the second outbound data from the memory and converts thesecond outbound data into a second outbound symbol stream in accordancewith the second wireless communication protocol; and the second RFsection converts the second outbound symbol stream into a secondoutbound RF signal in accordance with the second wireless communicationprotocol.
 4. The RFIC of claim 1 further comprises: a memory managementmodule coupled to the memory interface, wherein the memory managementmodule generates pointers to indicate where in the memory the firstinbound data, the first inbound signal, the second inbound data, and thesecond inbound signal are stored and generates signals indicating whenthe first inbound data, the first inbound signal, the second inbounddata, and the second inbound signal are available for retrieval.
 5. TheRFIC of claim 1, wherein the first PHY processing module comprises: anaudio codec coupled to convert the first inbound signal into a firstinbound analog audio signal and to convert the second inbound signalinto a second inbound analog audio signal.
 6. The RFIC of claim 1,wherein the first PHY processing module comprises: an audio processingmodule coupled to decompress the first or second inbound signal toproduce a decompressed audio signal; and an audio codec coupled toconvert the decompressed audio signal into the first or second inboundanalog signal.
 7. The RFIC of claim 1 further comprises: the firstwireless communication protocol corresponding to a global system formobile communications (GSM) protocol; and the second wirelesscommunication protocol corresponding to a wide bandwidth code divisionmultiple access (WCDMA) protocol.
 8. The RFIC of claim 1 furthercomprises: the first inbound signal including at least one of: a firstinbound digital audio signal, a first inbound digital video signal, anda first inbound digital text/graphics signal; the first inbound analogsignal including at least one of: a first inbound analog audio signal, afirst inbound analog video signal, and a first inbound analogtext/graphics signal; the second inbound signal including at least oneof: a second inbound digital audio signal, a second inbound digitalvideo signal, and a second inbound digital text/graphics signal; and thesecond inbound analog signal including at least one of: a second inboundanalog audio signal, a second inbound analog video signal, and a secondinbound analog text/graphics signal.
 9. The RFIC of claim 1 furthercomprises: the memory storing a multimedia file; and the first upperlayers processing module retrieves the multimedia file from memory andconverts the multimedia file into the first inbound signal.
 10. A radiofrequency (RF) integrated circuit (IC) comprises: a first radiofrequency (RF) section; a second RF section; a first physical layer(PHY) processing module; a second PHY processing module; a first upperlayers processing module; a second upper layers processing module; amemory interface for coupling to memory; and a bus structure coupled tothe memory, the first and second PHY processing modules, and to thefirst and second upper layers processing modules, wherein, when the RFICis in a first transmit mode: the first PHY processing module coupled toconvert a first outbound analog signal into a first outbound signal; thememory stores the first outbound signal; the first upper layersprocessing module converts the first outbound signal into first outbounddata; the memory stores the first outbound data; the first PHYprocessing module retrieves the first outbound data from the memory andconverts the first outbound data into a first outbound symbol stream inaccordance with the first wireless communication protocol; and the firstRF section converts the first outbound symbol stream into a firstoutbound RF signal in accordance with the first wireless communicationprotocol; when the RFIC is in a second transmit mode: the first PHYprocessing module coupled to convert a second outbound analog signalinto a second outbound signal; the memory stores the second outboundsignal; the second upper layers processing module converts the secondoutbound signal into second outbound data; the memory stores the secondoutbound data; the second PHY processing module retrieves the secondoutbound data from the memory and converts the second outbound data intoa second outbound symbol stream in accordance with the second wirelesscommunication protocol; and the second RF section converts the secondoutbound symbol stream into a second outbound RF signal in accordancewith the second wireless communication protocol.
 11. The RFIC of claim10, wherein, when the RFIC is in a first receive mode: the first RFsection converts a first inbound RF signal into a first inbound symbolstream in accordance with the first wireless communication protocol; thefirst PHY processing module converts the first inbound symbol streaminto first inbound data in accordance with the first wirelesscommunication protocol; the memory stores the first inbound data; thefirst upper layers processing module retrieves the first inbound datafrom memory and converts the first inbound data into a first inboundaudio signal; the memory stores the first inbound audio signal; and thefirst PHY processing module retrieves the first inbound audio signalfrom the memory and converts the first inbound audio signal into a firstinbound analog audio signal.
 12. The RFIC of claim 10, wherein, when theRFIC is in a second receive mode: the second RF section converts asecond inbound RF signal into a second inbound symbol stream inaccordance with a second wireless communication protocol; the second PHYprocessing module converts the second inbound symbol stream into secondinbound data in accordance with the second wireless communicationprotocol; the memory stores the second inbound data; the second upperlayers processing module retrieves the second inbound data from memoryand converts the second inbound data into a second inbound audio signal;the memory stores the second inbound audio signal; and the first PHYprocessing module retrieves the second inbound audio signal from thememory and converts the second inbound audio signal into a secondinbound analog audio signal.
 13. The RFIC of claim 10 further comprises:a memory management module coupled to the memory interface, wherein thememory management module generates pointers to indicate where in thememory the first outbound data, the first outbound signal, the secondoutbound data, and the second outbound signal are stored and generatessignals indicating when the first outbound data, the first outboundsignal, the second outbound data, and the second outbound signal areavailable for retrieval.
 14. The RFIC of claim 10, wherein the first PHYprocessing module comprises: an audio codec coupled to convert a firstoutbound analog audio signal into the first outbound signal and toconvert a second outbound analog audio signal into the second outboundsignal.
 15. The RFIC of claim 10, wherein the first PHY processingmodule comprises: an audio codec coupled to convert first or secondoutbound analog audio signals into an outbound digital audio signal; andan audio processing module coupled to compress the outbound digitalaudio signal to produce the first or second outbound signal.
 16. TheRFIC of claim 10 further comprises: the first wireless communicationprotocol corresponding to a global system for mobile communications(GSM) protocol; and the second wireless communication protocolcorresponding to a wide bandwidth code division multiple access (WCDMA)protocol.
 17. The RFIC of claim 10 further comprises: the first outboundsignal including at least one of: a first outbound digital audio signal,a first outbound digital video signal, and a first outbound digitaltext/graphics signal; the first outbound analog signal including atleast one of: a first outbound analog audio signal, a first outboundanalog video signal, and a first outbound analog text/graphics signal;the second outbound signal including at least one of: a second outbounddigital audio signal, a second outbound digital video signal, and asecond outbound digital text/graphics signal; and the second outboundanalog signal including at least one of: a second outbound analog audiosignal, a second outbound analog video signal, and a second outboundanalog text/graphics signal.
 18. The RFIC of claim 10 further comprises:the memory storing a multimedia file; and the first upper layersprocessing module retrieves the multimedia file from memory and convertsthe multimedia file into the first outbound signal.